Young, Mexican and Ready to Raise Their Political Voices

Janet Perez of Masa, an immigrant advocacy group, invites people to a community meeting.Credit
David Gonzalez/The New York Times

Bundled up against the cold, Janet Perez walked down Willis Avenue in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx this month, politely approaching parents waiting for their children after school.

She smiled and spoke softly, all too aware of the heightened fear in this predominantly Mexican neighborhood: Rumors of immigration raids had set people’s nerves on edge after the authorities in other cities began deporting women and children who had lost asylum cases. To clear up the confusion, Ms. Perez was inviting those who were worried to a community meeting.

“People were obviously concerned,” she said later. “They kept asking: ‘Are the rumors true? Are they doing raids in New York City?’ Some of them had been told not to go out, or to be extra cautious.”

Ms. Perez can relate to that fear. Her parents brought her to New York City from Mexico when she was 6 months old, and she grew up as an undocumented immigrant. Now 24, she had come of age navigating the obstacles facing young people like herself, and in recent years had been able to get a work permit and to avoid deportation because of a federal policy put into effect in 2012. Yet even before that, she had already decided she had to speak out.

To some extent, it is a measure of the Mexican community’s growth and political maturation that young people like Ms. Perez are stepping forward in a way that their parents could not. Guided by the experiences of past immigrant groups — and aware of how their own experiences are different — they want to use their voices and skills to move their community forward at a time when politicians like Donald J. Trump have demonized it.

“I think my generation just got tired of the injustices that were happening,” she said. “We really had nothing to lose by voicing our opinions and demanding our rights, unlike our parents who have kids and have more to worry about. We may be young, but we know what’s happening.”

Youth is evident inside the newly occupied South Bronx offices at Masa, the group where Ms. Perez works to help people obtain legal services. Masa focuses primarily on education services for children and families, and offers cultural programs as well as advice on dealing with housing and other issues. Its 15 staff members are augmented by more than 100 professionals who have volunteered to mentor young people.

Aracelis Lucero was rising through the ranks at an investment bank when she started as a Masa volunteer in 2007. She felt a certain responsibility as the Bronx-born child of immigrants from Puebla, Mexico, whose apartment was sometimes packed with as many as 25 people whom her parents were helping to resettle.

“The Mexican community had exploded in New York, but all of my relatives and cousins were dropping out,” she said. “No one was going to college. I had to do something.”

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She sees her job as listening to parents and young people, making sure their needs are met and their concerns are heard — things she said city officials often failed to do. Citing the need for political accountability, Ms. Lucero said she thought members of the younger generation needed to find ways to push the community into civic engagement, an unfamiliar concept to many Mexicans because of their disillusionment with the corrupt and inefficient authorities back home.

One unexpected boost for the young activists’ efforts came courtesy of Mr. Trump, who began his Republican campaign for president with a broadside against Mexican immigrants. Ms. Lucero said the remarks had energized people.

“For Mexicans, it was a wake-up call: ‘Is this what is really happening?’” she said. “We need to put a fire under a lot of people’s seats. You need that spark to start a movement, and I think Trump helped fuel involvement in our community. It has helped unify Latinos.”

How far it can go is uncertain. Alyshia Gálvez, a professor at Lehman College who directs the Mexican Studies Institute there, said long-term progress hinged on changes to immigration policy that would allow people who do not have permanent legal status to obtain it. Still, members of the younger generation are engaged and informed, and keenly aware of how politicians and immigration activists have used them in the past.

“The young people who are most active and militant have been pandered to by the parties,” Ms. Gálvez said. “They have not really been given a voice.”

Ms. Lucero knows that, too. Which is why she finds it upsetting that even potential allies in other Latino groups have told her bluntly that her community must wait its turn. The needs, she said, are too pressing.

“We are looking at how to increase our political representation,” Ms. Lucero said. “I don’t think we want to wait another 30 years. The community is getting ready and doesn’t want to wait.”